Watching it at the moment, the music isn't bad thus far but _very_ incidental with tiny little flourishes to underscore some statement. Also sounded like Raya singing the opera style track near the beginning. I liked the touching music at the resolution of the standoff and he gets shot in the head

Gags hit the mark for me, even ones like "I'm not Hermione". Fitz & Simmons are enjoyable, though I struggled to understand them a couple of times (this despite me being British). Can't imagine how American's are coping with the accents.

Saw the episode. It was enjoyable enough. McCreary's music sounded like Human Target by way of Silvestri's A-Team. I'm curious to see what he comes up with for other characters, and how he develops it through the series. As for the show itself, it was cute. A decent intro to the characters, some of whom may have been a little too goofy. I do think, given the series' background in the Marvel films and the number of characters being introduced, that they should have gone for a two-hour, more cinematic pilot rather than go the just-an-episode route.

I do think, given the series' background in the Marvel films and the number of characters being introduced, that they should have gone for a two-hour, more cinematic pilot rather than go the just-an-episode route.

Agreed. They were cramming too much into one hour. I felt some characters were left in the back burner. But I guess that's what a whole season is for.

By: CindyLover (Member) "I'll be there on Friday (it's been fast-tracked for the UK so it launches in these parts only a few days after the US). smile" ----------------------- Thanks CL. It seems to be getting a pretty low-key showing in the UK. No fanfare in the TV guides I've seen, not much trailer coverage on the telly (again, from what I've seen...maybe I've been missing them). It's just tucked away for this Friday night on Channel 4. Channel 5 seemed to manage a lot more fanfare with their Under The Dome premiere some weeks back. I was well aware that was starting. I'll stick a 'series link' on it on my Virgin box and give it a few goes when I get back from Austria (Horner) and London (Elfman)

"S.H.I.E.L.D. . . . ran against huge competition: NBC’s The Voice and CBS’ NCIS are two of the most popular shows on television. And how did it stand up? S.H.I.E.L.D. actually managed to tie the two-hour The Voice overall in the demo (4.6) — and beat it head-to-head during the 8 p.m. hour — while trouncing the return of NCIS in the demo (3.4), though obviously losing among total viewers (19.4 million)."

I wonder what kind of drop-off we'll see next week and over the season.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. . . . ran against huge competition: NBC’s The Voice and CBS’ NCIS are two of the most popular shows on television. And how did it stand up? S.H.I.E.L.D. actually managed to tie the two-hour The Voice overall in the demo (4.6) — and beat it head-to-head during the 8 p.m. hour — while trouncing the return of NCIS in the demo (3.4), though obviously losing among total viewers (19.4 million)."

I wonder what kind of drop-off we'll see next week and over the season.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. . . . ran against huge competition: NBC’s The Voice and CBS’ NCIS are two of the most popular shows on television. And how did it stand up? S.H.I.E.L.D. actually managed to tie the two-hour The Voice overall in the demo (4.6) — and beat it head-to-head during the 8 p.m. hour — while trouncing the return of NCIS in the demo (3.4), though obviously losing among total viewers (19.4 million)."

I wonder what kind of drop-off we'll see next week and over the season.

I must say I was very impressed with the numbers. Though the fact that V was the last time a drama reached those numbers doesn't particularly warm my heart (since V got cancelled at the end of its second season...) I have high hopes for this one though.

On the series in general: "It is common for a series to take a few episodes to grow and find its tone, and the same is true for a score. Fans may notice that my music takes evolutionary steps over the next few episodes."

He also discusses how he handles the international action in the episode, as well as the new themes he deploys in this episode:

The Tesseract theme: fans of the movies will recall that the Tesseract is a powerful energy source weaving its way through the films, used most notably in Captain America and The Avengers but also referenced in Thor and Iron Man 2. McCreary wanted the theme to be creepy and suggestive of how dangerous the Tesseract is.

The Agents theme: This is the series' emotional team theme, a "gentle waltz" complementing the bigger, more heroic Coulson/S.H.I.E.L.D. theme.

I wonder where the ratings will level out, and if the show will get its act together and start building on its core rather than losing the curious but uncommitted general public.

Yeah I think the general idea is we have a 50 minute commercial for our Marvel line of movies and products. The show itself is on the level of 70's television writing and acting. Truly dated and uninspiring.

I’m not sure why people aren’t liking this show. It’s not Firefly, but neither were Angel or Buffy three episodes in. I like most of the cast (I’m not crazy about Skye or Ward, but I like everyone else), I like the writing, I like the Marvel setting, and it’s a genre show I can watch with my kids!

Music-wise last night was the first time I noticed it outside of an action scene. It’s good, it just doesn’t take front stage so far.

I’m not sure why people aren’t liking this show. It’s not Firefly, but neither were Angel or Buffy three episodes in. I like most of the cast (I’m not crazy about Skye or Ward, but I like everyone else), I like the writing, I like the Marvel setting, and it’s a genre show I can watch with my kids!

Music-wise last night was the first time I noticed it outside of an action scene. It’s good, it just doesn’t take front stage so far.

I don't love the show yet, but I don't dislike it, either. My biggest problem right now is not that the team is not much of a team yet, although I'll be much happier when they are, but that they're so boring. It's taken them three episodes to get May to admit what we knew from the moment we met her. Ward is just boring as all get-out and needs some layers, stat. Skye's arc: also pretty boring. She's part of the regular cast and, aside from Coulson, the star of the show. We know she's not going to betray the team or, if she does, that it'll be resolved. And FitzSimmons really, really need a chance to shine sooner rather than later. We're three episodes in and there's just nothing fresh about any of the characters or the character arcs, and nothing exciting about the team dynamics. And since that's where Whedon tends to shine, I really hope we get there very very soon.

I think it's getting better. The third episode was easily the best so far (and the score was also pretty good, some very long action cues near the end). It's just very lightweight, far more than I was hoping for. There's some very interesting themes and topics that could be explored with this show but right now, they're content to do procedural family fun. There's definitely a market for that but I'm not the buyer.

I think it's getting better. The third episode was easily the best so far (and the score was also pretty good, some very long action cues near the end). It's just very lightweight, far more than I was hoping for. There's some very interesting themes and topics that could be explored with this show but right now, they're content to do procedural family fun. There's definitely a market for that but I'm not the buyer.

A friend and I were talking about this the other day. Every Whedon show has started with fairly hum drum plot of the week episodes until midway (or more) through the first season. So far SHIELD is pretty text-book Whedon.

I've also heard several people say this ep was their favorite. So far it's my least. I think partly because I can't believe they telegraphed so heavily that she was going to grab the gun and then she just grabbed the gun. I don't know why it bugs me so much, but it really does. Also I'm starting to figure out that 1) I just don't like Skye and 2) they're going to lean pretty heavily on Skye stories.

That could end up happening but it's hard to say. There's a lot more cooks involved than there has been with any other Whedon show. And the latter isn't nearly as involved this time, leaving the showrunning tasks to other people. I wouldn't be surprised if this formula was here to stay, albeit with more recurring elements as the series progresses.

One thing I'm curious to see, with Thor premiering end of October/beginning of November, is whether and to what extent they overtly lead into or deal with some sort of fallout from that film in episodes 7-10 or so. Clearly they can't put any spoilers into the show immediately after the movie premieres, but they'd be nuts not to do some kind of cross-promotion. Just curious to see how they handle it.

This week's episode had quite a good cue, the FitzSimmons theme getting a dramatic workout in their anti serum montage. I hope this one makes the score album.

And apparently the week after next will feature a Thor tie-in. Wonder whether McCreary will take the opportunity to tip his hat at Tyler or Doyle.

Yeah, I liked that cue too. Also, the cue for Coulson talking to the fireman was also very good. There's been some good action scoring in previous eps too. There will definitely be lots of material for a release.